New York Islanders general manager Lou Lamoriello won't give up on the club's waning playoff hopes before this week's trade deadline.
"If we can add, we will. Are we going to subtract? Absolutely not," Lamoriello said, per The Athletic's Arthur Stape.
The Islanders are currently six points back of a wild-card spot and a divisional seed but have games in hand on each team ahead of them. New York's playoff odds entering Tuesday's clash against the St. Louis Blues are 23.3%, according to Moneypuck.
Veteran grinders Matt Martin and Cal Clutterbuck are the Isles' most notable pending unrestricted free agents, but they've been a part of New York's identity for several years. Defensemen Mike Reilly and Sebastian Aho are on expiring contracts as well.
Although Lamoriello is adamant about not selling, adding pieces for New York's playoff push will be difficult as well: The Islanders have no deadline cap space available, per CapFriendly.
The Islanders have been on the playoff bubble for much of the season. New York replaced head coach Lane Lambert with Patrick Roy in a stunning move on Jan. 20 to turn things around, but the club is 7-5-3 since the Hall of Fame netminder took over behind the bench.
Copyright © 2024 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.